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2016-05-24

50 Great Movies: 2016 Edition

50 Great Movies: Mimi wo Sumaseba
 
50 Great Movies, 2016 Edition

1. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
2. Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
4. Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
5. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)
6. Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)
7. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
8. Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Th. Dreyer)
10. Omohide Poro Poro (1991, Isao Takahata)

11. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
12. City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin)
13. Spaceballs (1987, Mel Brooks)
14. My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)
15. Ran (1986, Akira Kurosawa)
16. The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
17. The Fog of War (2003, Errol Morris)
18. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
19. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)
20. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)

21. The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968, Isao Takahata)
22.. Mimi wo Sumaseba (1995, Yoshifumi Kondo)
23. La Dolce Vita (1960, Federico Fellini)
24. The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)
25. Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
26. Elizabeth (1998, Shekhar Kapur)
27. Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)
28. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
29. Floating Weeds (1959, Yasujiro Ozu)
30. The Big Sleep (1946, Howard Hawks)

31. The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
32. Throne of Blood (1957, Akira Kurosawa)
33. Modern Times (1936, Charlie Chaplin)
34. Young Frankenstein (1974, Mel Brooks)
35. Blazing Saddles (1974, Mel Brooks)
36. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (1984, Hayao Miyazaki)
37. Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino)
38. Dreams (1991, Akira Kurosawa)
39. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968, Sergio Leone)
40. Fantasia (1940, Walt Disney)

41. Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963, Stanley Kubrick)
42. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996, Jim Mallon)
43. Clue (1985, Jonathan Lynn)
44. Beetlejuice (1988, Tim Burton)
45. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, John Hughes)
46. Metropolis (1926, Fritz Lang)
47. The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
48. Ben-Hur (1959, William Wyler)
49. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
50. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)


I am currently working on one of my book manuscripts that will be published later this year. This book (tentatively titled "Hang Time") features movie and music essays, as well as personal essays. Right now, I am performing one final copy-editing sweep, tightening up the chapters, cutting out what works, and seeing what needs to be added in order to reach my goal of 80k words. One other manuscript is finished, and there are two others I'm planning to complete before launching.

Four years ago, I published a list of "50 Great Movies," give or take a couple extras. I decided to rewrite and revise that list for Hang Time, and share the results with everyone on Ghibli Blog. This is a very lean and mean list of great movies that mean everything to me. These movies have inspired me, thrilled me, challenged me. It's all very personal and not meant to be an academic study of "the greats," whatever that means. Art is only valuable if it means something to you. Right?

I wonder if I should turn this list into a book? That's always a possibility for a future project, however I believe there are already many Greatest Movies books available now. What do you think? Would you like to see this list expanded into a book? For now, I will leave that decision to you. My plate is very full at the moment. I need to figure out what to do with the Studio Ghibli book project.

Anyway, please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions, and thank you very much for supporting Ghibli Blog. You are the reason all of this exists.

2016-05-20

Photos: Antes De Mi Vicino Miyazaki



Here are some sample pages from the upcoming Studio Ghibli book, Antes De Mi Vicino Miyazaki. Just like its predecessor, each page features full-color photos and artwork from the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The layouts and artwork are absolutely superb, and I find myself completely rethinking my own Ghibli Book plans. Just let me get through the next two manuscripts first.

This is going to be a terrific book, a must for all Ghibli Freaks. I can't wait to see the fans go crazy when this is released in May 27. That's only next week!

New Studio Ghibli Book Coming May 27 in Spain


Excellent news, everybody! We have a new Studio Ghibli book coming soon!

Alvaro Lopez Martin and Marta Garcia Villar, the authors of last year's excellent full-color book, Mi Vicino Miyazaki, have returned with their second volume, Antes De Mi Vicino Miyazaki. This book details the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata before the founding of Studio Ghibli. It will be released in hardcover, in Spain, on May 27.

Once again, the authors have kindly asked me to contribute, and I wrote the Preface for the book. It was a joy to work with Alvaro and Marta again, and humbly thank them for their kindness and generosity.

For my English-speaking readers of this site, I should advise you that Antes De Mi Vicino Miyazaki is entirely in Espanol. No English-language translation or US release of either book is currently planned, but Alvaro and Marta both tell me they would love to see that happen.

I am currently working on the manuscripts for my indie publishing company, which will launch this year. Among my book projects will be two volumes about Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki and Takahata, based on the many essays from Ghibli Blog. I am greatly anticipating these volumes, and appreciate the competition from the excellent Mi Vicino Miyazaki series. I will have to work extra hard to ensure that I can keep up.

Also, for the record: Yes, I would be thrilled to secure the US rights to these two books and publish them in English and Spanish. But securing the copyrights for the use of art assets would be a major expense. It might also prove challenging with the second volume, as we would need to contact Toei (Horus), Zuiyo (Heidi, Girl of the Alps), Nippon Animation (Marco, Anne) and TMS (Lupin, Conan, Sherlock) for clearance. You see, Lisa, grownups have this thing called "money."

Alvaro and Marta can be found on the excellent Ghibli fansite Generacion Ghibli. I highly recommend that all fans bookmark and follow the site. If you are interested in these terrific books, visit them and show your support!



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